A performance tonight by award-winning UK saxophonist Jess Gillam, broadcast through Müpa, is one of six at this week’s Rising Stars festival. The young musicians are appearing via the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, their shows streamed by Müpa, a fellow member of the European Concert Hall Organisation. ECHO Rising Star Jess Gillam made her major breakthrough at the televised finals of BBC Young Musician in 2016 and has already seen her debut album top the classical charts in the UK. We caught up with the 22-year-old prodigy as she prepared for her Hamburg show.
Every year sees a clamour for tickets when Müpa stages the Rising Stars festival for promising European musicians. Scheduled for autumn 2020, the most recent event had to cancelled, so this week the performers will now be appearing one by one via the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. As part of the European Concert Hall Organisation, Müpa is streaming these shows live on their Facebook and Müpa Home platforms.
Featuring a British baritone, a German percussionist and a Spanish oboist, each concert begins at 8.30pm. See the full schedule here. Perhaps the highlight of the week, though, is tonight’s show starring UK saxophonist Jess Gillam.
"Budapest was one of the places I would have been playing for the first time and I was really looking forward to it," said Jess. "I always feel so lucky performing live anyway, but now every show feels like a Christmas present!"
"Obviously we've all had to adapt to the circumstances but it feels like 2020 was even busier than any other year, playing with amazing orchestras while keeping social distancing."
The youngest presenter to host a show on classical-focused BBC Radio 3, Ulverston-born Jess Gillam wowed the Royal Albert Hall at the Last Night of the Proms in 2018. She has since played live at the BAFTAs – the UK’s equivalent of the Oscars – and her acclaimed debut album, Rise, with pieces by Shostakovich, Kate Bush and David Bowie, made No.1 in the UK’s classical music charts. A follow-up, Time, was released in 2020.
Dynamic sound
Jess came upon the saxophone by chance. "Every Tuesday and Thursday, my dad played drums at a carnival workshop in Cumbria and he used to take me along. There were loads of things to try out – stilts, juggling, other instruments – and pretty much the last thing I picked up was a saxophone. When I blew into it for the first time, it made such a dynamic sound, it struck me immediately. It's something I'll never forget".
Back then, Jess was only seven but by the age of 13, she was taking regular lessons. "It was a two-hour drive from where we lived and I had to get up really early on a Saturday but it was so worth it!"
Playing carnivals from town to town, Jess became used to playing amid large crowds and a sense of community spirit still underscores her attitude to music.
She learned to adapt her performance style once she began to give indoor concerts: "There's that moment of quiet before you actually start and it can be really nerve-wracking – but that vacuum of silence is something you learn to play with, too".
Since her appearance for the BBC in 2016, Jess has played at many prestigious concert halls and festivals. "It's been a bit of a rollercoaster, really. It's only when you stop for a minute that you ask yourself, 'Is this really happening?'"
Unwritten history
"The saxophone is exciting and terrifying at the same time. In a way, it has a limited repertoire compared to other instruments as it's still young, its history is still being written. It's so malleable, so versatile and so tender. It would be fascinating to see how it develops in the future."
As if to underline this versatility, for her set tonight, Jess has chosen a typically eclectic combination of pieces by Francis Poulenc from the mid-1900s, contemporary minimalist composer Graham Fitkin from Cornwall, Elizabethan lutenist Dowland and Spaniard Iturralde. This last one is a csárdás, which should strike a particular chord here in Hungary.
Accompanying Jess will be Turkish pianist Zeynep Özsuca, "a force of nature and bags of fun!"
See more details here. Jess Gillam's show is streamed on Müpa's Facebook page from 8.30pm tonight, Wednesday, 27 January.
